WASHINGTON, Feb 14: The White House has avoided commenting on widespread protests in Pakistan against blasphemous Danish cartoons and instead has Issued a general appeal urging demonstrators to be peaceful.

“Peaceful demonstration is one thing … engaging in violence, there is no justification for that,” said White House spokesman Scott McClellan.

Mr McClellan made these remarks on Monday at a briefing at the White House when a reporter sought his comments on “violent protests” in Pakistan saying that the protests belie the Muslim claim that they are a peaceful people.

Instead of commenting on the protest in Pakistan, as the reporter asked him to, the White House spokesman reminded him that “right now, in Italy, we have the Olympics going on.”

The Olympics, he said, provides an opportunity for nations from all over the world to come together and compete through sports. The Olympics, he said, gave nations the chance to learn more about one another and have a better understanding for people of different ethnic backgrounds, races and religions.

“I think we ought to look at all the goodwill that’s being shown at the Olympics as an example of the kind of understanding that we would like to see moving forward,” said Mr McClellan.

When the reporter said he had a second question on the protest in Pakistan, the spokesman stopped him, saying: “No, no second question. I’ve got to keep going.”